http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Seat-gone--Athawale-now-plans-to-revive-former-militant-outfit/375320
Seat gone, Athawale now plans to revive former militant outfit Rakshit Sonawane Posted: Oct 20, 2008 at 2256 hrs IST MUMBAI, OCTOBER 19 : With his constituency lost to delimitation, a jittery Lok Sabha MP and Dalit leader Ramdas Athawale—who controls the largest faction of the Republican Party of India (RPI)—has decided to revive his erstwhile militant youth organisation, the Bharatiya Dalit Panther (BDP). A meeting to work out ways to revive the BDP was held in Chembur on October 15. Athawale addressed the well-attended gathering of youths and advocated the need to revive the outfit. Earlier, reacting to the court verdict on the Khairlanji massacre, the MP had warned that the Panthers would have to be revived if injustice on Dalits continued. Though the specifics of the revival are being worked out, it has been decided to re-open BDP's chhawnis (camps)—similar to the Shiv Sena shakhas. With Athawale still allied to the NCP, the outfit's youngsters are likely to be used by Sharad Pawar to counter the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the run-up to the general elections. The BDP was an offshoot of the Dalit Panthers (DP). As the DP split over several ideological and personal issues, several factions came into existence. The BDP came into prominence during the "Namantar" movement—to demand the renaming of the Marathwada University after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In 1978, casteist riots broke out in the state, mainly in Marathwada, as the Shiv Sena and "upper" castes opposed the move to rename the University. During the riots and arson, members of the BDP rushed to the affected areas to provide protection to Dalits. Athawale, subsequently, emerged as its leader and was picked up by Pawar, who renamed the university 16 years after becoming the chief minister. Athawale and his lieutenants, who were militant in the 1970s, are now nearing their 50s and the revival of BDP would ensure some young blood at their disposal. The RPI(A) has no youth wing like other parties. Given his knack of remembering at least a dozen faces by name in most villages of the state and identifying them publicly, Athawale is popular among Dalit activists—who know that he would rush to their help when required. However, Athawale's strong bonding with Pawar has been the main hurdle in uniting all RPI factions, as other leaders have asked him to break ties with the NCP as a pre-condition. Athawale, who is serving his third term as a Lok Sabha MP had been elected from the North Central Mumbai constituency in 1998 and twice from Pandharpur (Solapur), in 1999 and 2004. The Pandharpur constituency, which was reserved for SCs, has been dereserved after the delimitation exercise. Athawale now has no safe constituency to contest and is heading for the political wilderness. Kopargaon — now represented by former Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil — is one of the constituencies on Athawale's radar. After delimitation the constituency has been reserved for SCs and renamed Shirdi. ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to [email protected] TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
